Return of Mountain Lion

Well, the  Mountain Lion is back.  On Friday, about 60 minutes before dark, the Mountain Lion returned, and was less than 20 yards from the motorhome stalking a  Coues deer doe and fawn.

We heard the mama deer crying out, looked out the windows and saw her and the fawn acting strangely.

The doe kept crying out. Looked out another window and saw the mountain lion croutched under a tree right off our patio side less than 20 yards from us, and about 20-30 yards from the deer.

Sandy and I had our cameras out and were just focusing when the lion took off after the baby deer, and chased it into the woods towards the creek about 50 - 80 yards away (no pics of the lion this time).

For about 15 minutes afterwards the doe wandered around crying out looking for the fawn.

This morning we saw a doe cruising the edge of the woods - probably the mother looking for the fawn.

Today the Preserve Manager, his ranch cattle dog, and Dan walked the entire preserve trail system, checked part of the creek, and checked the area the cat and fawn dis-appeared.

No sign of the kill, if there is one. But the fawn was small, cat large. It could have eaten some and carried the rest off across the creek a distance - where we did not go.   No sign of a doe and fawn together yet. 

The Manager has closed the  Preserve for at least one week to visitors.  He may contact fish and game who may or may not come out for a look.

Dan weed wacked more vegetation all around the motorhome - 30 yards out for a better visual range. Most of it was already mowed, except under the trees were overgrown with 3-4 foot tall grass.

More of the original Mt Lion pics from Wednesday below.

Welcome Back Neighbor! (Patagonia, AZ)

Dan was walking with one of our preserve visitors today when they saw this Mountain Lion sitting right on one of our trails.  He estimates they were 20-30 yards from the cat.  The  cat ignored them at first, then looked directly at them for a bit before it slowly sauntered down the small hill off the path.

In other news,  we spent our first week setting up for our long term winter stay.  Dan spent more time cleaning up around the office, our site, and along the trails while Sandy spent time cleaning up the office.

Bird feeders and Hummingbird feeders....check!

We believe the cats are quite happy to be back.  As soon as the motorhome stopped, we swear the cats knew our new location.  They tend to beg to go outside as soon as we stop, but this time it was different.  They were constantly in the stairwell trying to run out the door.

All four kept saying:  "We know this spot!  Freedom!  No loud trucks, no people, and no leashes!"  But, we only let them out when we can supervise them and Hitch still needs to be on a leash.   We don't want our cats hunting small birds, nor big birds of prey hunting our cats.  Plus a 3 foot  black tailed rattlesnake was within about 30-40 yards of the motorhome one time this week, and then there are also skunks, coyotes, bobcats, and mountain lions in the general area.  A preserve wildlife camera also captured a photo of a black bear in early October on the 312 acre preserve.

Dusty telling Dan he is one happy cat

But, they had to wait while we setup our site and spent some time with the preserve manager to reacquaint ourselves with the office procedures.

Max

Finally!  We opened the door and all four cats were out the door.  We did not have to ask them twice if they wanted to come outside.  Even Max immediately left the safety of the door to go explore.  All summer, it took a lot of coaxing to get him to take a step outside.

Hitch and Max

Squirrel spent the most time exploring.  We had to keep herding him back.  At least, he did not hiss at us for making him stay near the rig.  He was probably happy to be outside without the leash.  Yep, enjoy it while you can, because this will only last for 4 months.

Squirrel

We have been seeing this one Coues Doe and her little one almost every evening.

 A lovely evening for a walk, right boys?  Meow!

We have been walking the trails almost every day since we got here.  Mr. Owl is still in his favorite tree.

Western Screeched Owl

We're not sure about the look he was giving us.  Sort of looks like a "well, there goes the neighborhood" look.

Well, there's a fine "Howdy-Do!"

Since we came back earlier than last year, it is rather nice to see the area looking green with a few flowers blooming. 

Wetland flower

The hummingbirds greeted us on our first day back by buzzing our heads.  We soon found out there was a nest in one of the trees near our door although it does not look like they are using it at the moment.  There are three of them - daddy? mommy? and baby?  Anyway, they are happy to have the feeders close to their home.  

Our Time Well Spent In California

Catching up.

Western Scrub Jay

Near Coarsegold, CA, we stayed at the Escapees SKP RV Park called Park of the Sierra.  We were about 25 miles south of Yosemite National Park's south gate.  

 

We liked the tiered sites with mature trees that seem to give more privacy.

The sheds here look a little bigger than the ones in Oregon, but they are all the same color and shape.

 Here are some photos of different sites.

The biggest plus was the people.  They were very friendly and went out of their way to welcome us.

They are very proud of their park and they should be.  They did all the planning and the building - roads, sites, and the center.  All well done!

 

Quite a difference between Coarsegold, CA and Sutherlin, OR.  It is certainly a lot hotter at Coarsegold.  We were looking forward to some warmer weather around 80 degrees, but it  was so hot and dry that everything crunches.  Well, except for the cats...they just wilt when we took them outside.

A lot of quails

There were birds everywhere along with lots of squirrels and other little critters.  In the park newsletter, they post a list of who sighted critters where.

During our stay, we were given a tour of the park.  During the tour, we were shown this tree inside the RV park and found it very interesting.  The Escapees put up bat houses around the park, but the most interesting  thing is what the Acorn Woodpeckers have been doing to this old tree.  They also like the sheds and the stagecoach.  Check out all the carving they did on this one limb.

They also store acorns in every little nook and cranny they can find.  If you click on the photo below, you can see the acorns stored in the cut off limb.

Even the bark has acorns stored in it.

The Acorn Woodpeckers were not wanting their photo taken. Sandy managed to get this one of a red breasted sapsucker.

Before we moved on, we decided not to signup with Park of the  Sierra due to  location and traffic.  Now if we can move the park and all the people to a better location....

Yosemite National Park

We visited Yosemite twice during our stay in Coarsegold.  We did not drive the Tioga Road which is farther north and would have turned into a long day of driving.

Come sit a while ~ Wawona Hotel

We walked through the Mariposa Grove to see the Sierra Redwoods.

Standing among the giants

California Tunnel Tree

The scenic views were breath-taking and hard to capture with a camera.  We visited during the off-season and the place was still busy.

Yosemite National Park - Valley

Traffic in Yosemite was almost as bad as being downtown.  They say this national park is one of the most visited parks.

Yosemite National Park - Valley

But, Sandy did manage to get quite a few shots with no people in it.  Timing is everything!

Yosemite National Park - Valley

Yosemite National Park - Valley

We had lunch at The Awhahnee in Yosemite Valley.  A little pricey, but Sandy loved her Waldorf Chicken Croissant.  Sitting outdoors on such a beautiful day was very relaxing.

 The Awhahnee

We had entertainment too.  This is just one of many squirrels that were running around under our chairs and tables.  Snooping for dropped food and every once in a while to look up at people to see if they would take pity on them.  One even tried to go inside except one of the staff saw him coming and scared him away.  

Got lunch?

Funny, he doesn't look like he is starving.  Oh, there were "Do Not Feed" signs up everywhere so it must be all those acorns he has been eating.

After lunch, we went to Glacier Point to see El Capitan and Yosemite Valley.

Yosemite National Park - Glacier Point

Now that's quite a view!

Yosemite National Park - Glacier Point

There was a Black and White photo of women posing on this over hanging.  Three women posing with their arms over each other's shoulders and kicking one leg into the air.  We will stick to the railed in areas...thank you.

Yosemite National Park - Glacier Point



We drove quickly from CA to AZ, spending one night on Barstow USMC base, and one night at Gila Bend AZ USAF base that is contract run.  After that we spent one week on Davis Monthan AFB in Tucson AZ to do some shopping before moving to Patagonia AZ for our winter hosting gig.


Happy Trails!